Introduction

This file gives an overview of the Python code for the algorithms in the
textbook Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, also known as AIMA.
The code is offered free for your use under the MIT License. As you may
know, the textbook presents algorithms in pseudo-code format; as a
supplement we provide this code. The intent is to implement all the
algorithms in the book, but we are not done yet.

Prerequisites

The code is meant for Python 2.5 through 2.7.

How to Browse the Code

You can get some use out of the code here just by browsing, starting at
the root of the source tree or by clicking on the links in the index on
the project home page. The source code is in the .py files; the .txt
files give examples of how to use the code.

How to Install the Code

If you like what you see, install the code using either one of these
methods:

From a command shell on your computer, execute the svn checkout command
given on the source tab of the project. This assumes you have previously
installed the version control system Subversion (svn). Download and
unzip the zip file listed as a “Featured download”on the right hand side
of the project home page. This is currently (Oct 2011) long out of date;
we mean to make a new .zip when the svn checkout settles down.

You’ll also need to install the data files from the aima-data project.
These are text files that are used by the tests in the aima-python
project, and may be useful for yout own work.

You can put the code anywhere you want on your computer, but it should
be in one directory (you might call it aima but you are free to use
whatever name you want) with aima-python as a subdirectory that contains
all the files from this project, and data as a parallel subdirectory
that contains all the files from the aima-data project.

How to Test the Code

First, you need to install Python (version 2.5 through 2.7; parts of the
code may work in other versions, but don’t expect it to). Python comes
preinstalled on most versions of Linux and Mac OS. Versions are also
available for Windows, Solaris, and other operating systems. If your
system does not have Python installed, you can download and install it
for free.

In the aima-python directory, execute the command

python doctests.py -v *.py

The “-v” is optional; it means “verbose”. Various output is printed, but
if all goes well there should be no instances of the word “Failure”, nor
of a long line of “”. If you do use the “-v” option, the last line
printed should be “Test passed.”

How to Run the Code

You’re on your own – experiment! Create a new python file, import the
modules you need, and call the functions you want.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks for the bug reports, corrected code, and other support from
Phil Ruggera, Peng Shao, Amit Patil, Ted Nienstedt, Jim Martin, Ben
Catanzariti, and others.